The discussion revolves around calculating the water equivalent of a calorimeter, involving concepts of specific heat and thermal equilibrium. The original poster presents a problem involving a calorimeter with given mass and specific heat, seeking to understand how to approach the calculation without knowing the equilibrium temperature.
The discussion is ongoing, with participants providing guidance on simplifying the setup and confirming the correctness of the original poster's understanding. There is acknowledgment of a discrepancy between the calculated mass and the expected answer, prompting further exploration of the problem's assumptions.
Participants note the lack of clarity in the problem statement regarding units for specific heat, which may lead to confusion in calculations. The original poster's approach is validated, but the discussion highlights potential ambiguities in the question itself.
That's good. Simplify what you set up, and you're in business.rasen58 said:I wanted to set cmT = cmT for the water and calorimeter
Yes.rasen58 said:Can I cancel out the T's then?
You have met one of many sloppily stated questions you'll run into in your life. "Specific heat" has been conflated with "Specific gravity." Since water has a specific gravity of "One," the author of the question has chosen "One" as the specific heat for water as well. In kcal/kg, yes, but there is no specification of units in the problem statement.rasen58 said:But the answer says it's 0.06 kg